George Santos decries ‘bullying’ ahead of expulsion vote: Latest

Scandal-plagued New York Republican Rep George Santos appeared outside the Capitol bright and early for a press conference as the vote to expel him nears.

He yet again refused to resign from his post, telling the assembled press on Thursday morning, “If I leave, they win” and decrying what he claimed was “bullying”.

“I will be filing a slew of complaints today and tomorrow,” he said, according to Punchbowl, adding that he would move to file a motion to expel New York Democratic Rep Jamaal Bowman after he pleaded guilty to pulling the fire alarm during the House vote in September. The Ethics Committee chose not to try to expel Mr Bowman.

Asked about Speaker Mike Johnson by The Messenger, he said, “The man’s a gentleman. He’s an exemplary member of this body”.

The 35-year-old appeared to have accepted that he would be expelled on Friday. “If this is it, this is it,” he said.

All this comes after a 56-page report from the House Ethics Committee released earlier this month outlined “substantial evidence” that Mr Santos violated federal law.

Key Points

• ‘Santos spent almost $3,000 on Botox treatments'

• PHOTOS: Santos holds early morning press conference outside Capitol

• Ethics panel chair calls out Santos for not speaking to committee

• ‘Too bad that the Democratic Party in NY doesn’t believe in giving you a chance'

• Santos throws tantrum press conference on eve of expulsion from Congress

‘If it is Gods will for me to leave I will do so graciously’

13:42 , Gustaf Kilander

Appearing on Fox News on Friday morning, Mr Santos said: “If it is God’s will to keep me here I will stay and if it is God’s will for me to leave I will do so graciously.”

VIDEO: 'I have accepted expulsion': George Santos 'at peace' ahead of vote

13:38 , Billal Rahman

Car smashes into Capitol barrier ahead of Santos expulsion debate

13:00 , Rhys Jones

A car smashed into a barricade at Capitol Hill, Washington DC, as George Santos was giving a press conference ahead of his expulsion debate.

Footage from the scene shows a white car with its bonnet crumpled after crashing into a security barrier on Thursday morning, 30 November.

READ MORE:

Car smashes into Capitol barrier ahead of Santos expulsion debate

VIDEO: Who is George Santos' husband Matt? What we know so far

12:00 , The Independent

Santos mocked after belief that earth is flat gets more support

11:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Democrats won’t whip vote on expelling Santos

10:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Jeffries calls Santos 'an unadulterated serial fraudster’

09:00 , Gustaf.Kilander

George Santos hints at possible future bid after expulsion vote: ‘Doesn’t mean it’s goodbye forever’

08:00 , Holly Patrick

George Santos hinted at a possible return to politics as he held a press conference ahead of a looming expulsion vote on Thursday, 30 November.

The Republican faces a vote to expel him from the House of Representatives after the House Ethics Committee argued that Mr Santos “knowingly” used his campaign committee to file false and incomplete reports to the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

It also alleges that he used campaign donations for personal expenses, violated the Ethics in Government Act, and committed fraud using a company he co-owned.

In May, Mr Santos was indicted in a Long Island court on 13 charges followed by another 10 charges in a superseding indictment filed in October.

‘You guys like digging up stuff on me'

07:00 , Eric Garcia

Mr Santos faces a federal investigation. Prosecutors charged him earlier this year and he appeared in court in late October to plead not guilty to charges including stealing the identities of campaign contributors to make more than $44,000 in credit card purchases and moving a “vast majority” of a $12,000 bank transfer to his personal account.

During his press conference, he mentioned how some members have “severe allegations against them,” but when asked about who they were, Mr Santos refused to give names.

“Why do I have to do your job for you,” he said in response to a question from The Independent. “You guys like digging up stuff on me. Why don’t you go dig up on other members?”

Mr Santos maintained that he would not resign but said he would not seek re-election. Still, he said that he would not re-enter public life.

“I’m 35 years old,” he said. “That doesn’t mean goodbye forever.”

Mr Santos ended his press conference swarmed by photographers as he went back into his Jaguar SUV while some hecklers criticised him, with one saying “you look better in drag.”

‘Let’s hold our own accountable but let’s make sure that we do it with the precedent of the House'

06:00 , Eric Garcia

Mr Santos criticised the fact that the House was not voting to expel Rep Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) after Mr Bowman pulled a fire alarm during a House vote in September, which prompted him to say that he would file a privileged motion to expel the New York Democrat. This came despite the Ethics Committee choosing not to investigate Mr Bowman.

“Let’s hold our own accountable but let’s make sure that we do it with the precedent of the House,” he said.

The House will hold a full vote on expelling Mr Santos on Friday. The vote would require two-thirds of the House to remove the freshman Republican member.

Mr Santos has faced scrutiny ever since his election when news reports showed he fabricated multiple parts of his life’s story as well as his professional history.

The vote will be the third effort in a year to remove Mr Santos from the House. A previous effort in May filed by Democrats failed and earlier this month, another vote failed right before the release of the Ethics Committee report.

Santos says refuting ethics report would be ‘counterproductive at this time'

05:00 , Eric Garcia

Mr Santos used his press conference not to refute the specific allegations in the report.

“It is counterproductive for me to do so at this time,” he told reporters on Thursday morning. “There will be a time that I will unpack it entirely and go line by line.”

Mr Santos criticised the Ethics Committee saying that he complied with the investigation, even though the report said he did not cooperate.

“No decent cop would bring this to a prosecutor or a DA and say, here’s our report, go ahead and charge it,” he said.

Rather, Mr Santos chose to list a series of unrelated grievances, blaming Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for protesters critical of Israel confronting police officers during the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting.

‘One year from hell’

04:00 , Gustaf Kilander

On Thursday morning, Mr Santos told reporters: “I’ve spoken to a lot of members, I don’t ask people to come to my defence ... I pass on that because I think this is my battle and I don’t want to drag people into the fray”.

“I would have done a lot of things differently, I would have associated with a lot of different people, I would have definitely stayed away from a lot of people, he added. “But I will say this. Today is my second-year wedding anniversary and I’m going to enjoy it and try to forget the fact that it’s been one year from hell.”

Santos throws tantrum press conference on eve of expulsion from Congress

03:00 , Eric Garcia

Embattled Rep George Santos (R-NY) delivered a defiant press conference early Thursdasy morning as he faces an expulsion vote on Friday.

The embattled Republican freshman rolled into his press conference in a black Jaguar SUV and criticised the fact that he would be joining five other members of Congress who were either members of the Confederacy or convicted criminals.

“So if I am to get expelled tomorrow, I will be number six in the history of the first Republican and the only one without a conviction or without having committed treason,” he said.

The House of Representatives is set to vote on whether to expel Mr Santos on Friday. The vote comes after the House Ethics Committee--a bipartisan committee--released a report detailing how Mr Santos used campaign cash to make personal expenses, filed false campaign finance reports to the Federal Election Commission and engaged in “knowing and willful violations” of the Ethics in Government Act.

READ MORE

Kenneth Cole hilariously calls George Santos’ outfit ‘expulsion chic’

02:15 , Olivia Hebert

Kenneth Cole hilariously reacted to George Santos’ outfit on Threads.

As Congress prepares to vote to expel Republican Rep George Santos of New York, the disgraced politician was seen on Capitol Hill wearing a burgundy red blazer layered on top of a black sweater and button-down. Below a picture of the congressman, clothing brand Kenneth Cole wrote on Threads that Santos’ outfit was “expulsion chic.”

Threads users added that Santos looked like he could be “Dr. Evil’s stylist” from Austin Powers. Another joked, “Hint: He liked it so much he bought the company,” referencing one of the former congressman’s many lies about his fortune.

READ MORE

Bowman calls Santos motion to expel him ‘meaningless stunt'

01:30 , Gustaf Kilander

Santos refuses to resign as vote to expel nears

00:45 , Gustaf Kilander

Scandal-plagued New York Republican Rep George Santos appeared outside the Capitol bright and early for a press conference as the vote to expel him nears.

He yet again refused to resign from his post, telling the assembled press on Thursday morning, “If I leave, they win”.

“I will be filing a slew of complaints today and tomorrow,” he said, according to Punchbowl, adding that he would move to file a motion to expel New York Democratic Rep Jamaal Bowman after he pleaded guilty to pulling the fire alarm during the House vote in September. The Ethics Committee chose not to try to expel Mr Bowman.

Asked about Speaker Mike Johnson by The Messenger, he said, “The man’s a gentleman. He’s an exemplary member of this body”.

The 35-year-old appeared to have accepted that he would be expelled on Friday. “If this is it, this is it,” he said

All this comes after a 56-page report from the House Ethics Committee released earlier this month outlined “substantial evidence” that Mr Santos violated federal law.

‘This garbage truck behind George Santos is one of the best I’ve seen'

00:00 , Gustaf Kilander

‘How can we possibly look the American people in the eye’

Thursday 30 November 2023 23:15 , Gustaf Kilander

Republican Dusty Johnson told CNN that he backs removing Santos, adding: “And frankly, if Republicans aren’t willing to police their own, how can we possibly look the American people in the eye and tell them that we’re willing to police folks on the other side of the aisle.”

‘George Santos is doing what every con man and 4-year-old does’

Thursday 30 November 2023 22:30 , Gustaf Kilander

‘Santos spent almost $3,000 on Botox treatments'

Thursday 30 November 2023 22:00 , Gustaf Kilander

PHOTOS: Santos holds early morning press conference outside Capitol

Thursday 30 November 2023 21:45 , Gustaf Kilander

Ethics panel chair calls out Santos for not speaking to committee

Thursday 30 November 2023 21:30 , Gustaf Kilander

‘For George Soro— Santos, it doesn’t appear to be a safe lily pad’

Thursday 30 November 2023 21:15 , Gustaf Kilander

‘No recommendation’ from Democratic leaders on how to vote on Santos

Thursday 30 November 2023 21:00 , Gustaf Kilander

‘A perpetrator of a massive fraud on his constituents’

Thursday 30 November 2023 20:54 , Gustaf Kilander

Gaetz: 'I rise not to defend George Santos, whoever he is’

Thursday 30 November 2023 20:38 , Gustaf Kilander

‘Republicans in the NYC city council get trampled by the socialists’

Thursday 30 November 2023 20:30 , Gustaf Kilander

The New York Council GOP leader, Joe Borelli, wrote on X on Thursday: “I would vote to expel George Santos, but also probably listen to a George Santos podcast on political, dark humor, and current event hot takes.”

Mr Santos shot back: “If you are all wondering why the Republicans In the NYC city council get trampled by the socialists, this is their leader.”

‘Too bad that the Democratic Party in NY doesn’t believe in giving you a chance'

Thursday 30 November 2023 20:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Former New York State Senator Anna Kaplan wrote on X on Thursday: “If George Santos is expelled tomorrow, the special election will be right around the corner. I am battle tested, and I am ready to flip New York’s 3rd Congressional District blue. We’ve already raised over $1 million. We’re just getting started.”

Mr Santos responded, writing: “Too bad that the Democratic Party in NY doesn’t believe in giving you a chance. You will be passed up for Suozzi, keep in mind that your party leadership is sexist and the little boys club will pass you up for one of them! Party of progress and inclusion, yeah right!”

Rep Thomas Souzzi represented the third congressional district in the state between 2017 and 2023, losing to Mr Santos in the 2022 midterms.

Santos mocked after belief that earth is flat gets more support

Thursday 30 November 2023 19:30 , Gustaf Kilander

Jeffries slams Santos proposed expulsion of Bowman

Thursday 30 November 2023 19:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Democrats won’t whip vote on expelling Santos

Thursday 30 November 2023 18:30 , Gustaf Kilander

Jeffries calls Santos 'an unadulterated serial fraudster’

Thursday 30 November 2023 18:00 , Gustaf Kilander

George Santos hints at possible future bid after expulsion vote: ‘Doesn’t mean it’s goodbye forever’

Thursday 30 November 2023 17:30 , Holly Patrick

George Santos hinted at a possible return to politics as he held a press conference ahead of a looming expulsion vote on Thursday, 30 November.

The Republican faces a vote to expel him from the House of Representatives after the House Ethics Committee argued that Mr Santos “knowingly” used his campaign committee to file false and incomplete reports to the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

It also alleges that he used campaign donations for personal expenses, violated the Ethics in Government Act, and committed fraud using a company he co-owned.

In May, Mr Santos was indicted in a Long Island court on 13 charges followed by another 10 charges in a superseding indictment filed in October.

‘You guys like digging up stuff on me'

Thursday 30 November 2023 17:00 , Eric Garcia

Mr Santos faces a federal investigation. Prosecutors charged him earlier this year and he appeared in court in late October to plead not guilty to charges including stealing the identities of campaign contributors to make more than $44,000 in credit card purchases and moving a “vast majority” of a $12,000 bank transfer to his personal account.

During his press conference, he mentioned how some members have “severe allegations against them,” but when asked about who they were, Mr Santos refused to give names.

“Why do I have to do your job for you,” he said in response to a question from The Independent. “You guys like digging up stuff on me. Why don’t you go dig up on other members?”

Mr Santos maintained that he would not resign but said he would not seek re-election. Still, he said that he would not re-enter public life.

“I’m 35 years old,” he said. “That doesn’t mean goodbye forever.”

Mr Santos ended his press conference swarmed by photographers as he went back into his Jaguar SUV while some hecklers criticised him, with one saying “you look better in drag.”

‘Let’s hold our own accountable but let’s make sure that we do it with the precedent of the House'

Thursday 30 November 2023 16:30 , Eric Garcia

Mr Santos criticised the fact that the House was not voting to expel Rep Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) after Mr Bowman pulled a fire alarm during a House vote in September, which prompted him to say that he would file a privileged motion to expel the New York Democrat. This came despite the Ethics Committee choosing not to investigate Mr Bowman.

“Let’s hold our own accountable but let’s make sure that we do it with the precedent of the House,” he said.

The House will hold a full vote on expelling Mr Santos on Friday. The vote would require two-thirds of the House to remove the freshman Republican member.

Mr Santos has faced scrutiny ever since his election when news reports showed he fabricated multiple parts of his life’s story as well as his professional history.

The vote will be the third effort in a year to remove Mr Santos from the House. A previous effort in May filed by Democrats failed and earlier this month, another vote failed right before the release of the Ethics Committee report.

Santos says refuting ethics report would be ‘counterproductive at this time'

Thursday 30 November 2023 16:00 , Eric Garcia

Mr Santos used his press conference not to refute the specific allegations in the report.

“It is counterproductive for me to do so at this time,” he told reporters on Thursday morning. “There will be a time that I will unpack it entirely and go line by line.”

Mr Santos criticised the Ethics Committee saying that he complied with the investigation, even though the report said he did not cooperate.

“No decent cop would bring this to a prosecutor or a DA and say, here’s our report, go ahead and charge it,” he said.

Rather, Mr Santos chose to list a series of unrelated grievances, blaming Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for protesters critical of Israel confronting police officers during the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting.

VIDEO: George Santos hints at possible future bid, says this isn’t ‘goodbye forever’

Thursday 30 November 2023 15:30 , Gustaf Kilander

‘One year from hell’

Thursday 30 November 2023 15:00 , Gustaf Kilander

On Thursday morning, Mr Santos told reporters: “I've spoken to a lot of members, I don't ask people to come to my defence ... I pass on that because I think this is my battle and I don't want to drag people into the fray”.

“I would have done a lot of things differently, I would have associated with a lot of different people, I would have definitely stayed away from a lot of people, he added. “But I will say this. Today is my second-year wedding anniversary and I'm going to enjoy it and try to forget the fact that it's been one year from hell.”

Santos throws tantrum press conference on eve of expulsion from Congress

Thursday 30 November 2023 14:38 , Eric Garcia

Embattled Rep George Santos (R-NY) delivered a defiant press conference early Thursdasy morning as he faces an expulsion vote on Friday.

The embattled Republican freshman rolled into his press conference in a black Jaguar SUV and criticised the fact that he would be joining five other members of Congress who were either members of the Confederacy or convicted criminals.

“So if I am to get expelled tomorrow, I will be number six in the history of the first Republican and the only one without a conviction or without having committed treason,” he said.

The House of Representatives is set to vote on whether to expel Mr Santos on Friday. The vote comes after the House Ethics Committee--a bipartisan committee--released a report detailing how Mr Santos used campaign cash to make personal expenses, filed false campaign finance reports to the Federal Election Commission and engaged in “knowing and willful violations” of the Ethics in Government Act.

READ MORE

Kenneth Cole hilariously calls George Santos’ outfit ‘expulsion chic’

Thursday 30 November 2023 14:30 , Olivia Hebert

Kenneth Cole hilariously reacted to George Santos’ outfit on Threads.

As Congress prepares to vote to expel Republican Rep George Santos of New York, the disgraced politician was seen on Capitol Hill wearing a burgundy red blazer layered on top of a black sweater and button-down. Below a picture of the congressman, clothing brand Kenneth Cole wrote on Threads that Santos’ outfit was “expulsion chic.”

Threads users added that Santos looked like he could be “Dr. Evil’s stylist” from Austin Powers. Another joked, “Hint: He liked it so much he bought the company,” referencing one of the former congressman’s many lies about his fortune.

READ MORE:

Kenneth Cole hilariously reacts to George Santos outfit

VIDEO: George Santos holds presser on looming expulsion vote: 'This is bullying'

Thursday 30 November 2023 14:02 , Natalie Chinn

‘Near-certainty’ Santos will be out this week after 90 Republicans back ouster

Thursday 30 November 2023 14:00 , Gustaf Kilander

‘What a joke'

Thursday 30 November 2023 13:43 , Gustaf Kilander

Bowman calls Santos motion to expel him ‘meaningless stunt'

Thursday 30 November 2023 13:43 , Gustaf Kilander

Santos asked if he bought outfit using campaign money

Thursday 30 November 2023 13:41 , Gustaf Kilander

Mr Santos was asked by a reporter if he was wearing anything bought using campaign funds, such as his shoes.

The 35-year-old pushed back, saying the shoes were six years old.

Santos refuses to resign as vote to expel nears

Thursday 30 November 2023 13:30 , Gustaf Kilander

Scandal-plagued New York Republican Rep George Santos appeared outside the Capitol bright and early for a press conference as the vote to expel him nears.

He yet again refused to resign from his post, telling the assembled press on Thursday morning, “If I leave, they win”.

“I will be filing a slew of complaints today and tomorrow,” he said, according to Punchbowl, adding that he would move to file a motion to expel New York Democratic Rep Jamaal Bowman after he pleaded guilty to pulling the fire alarm during the House vote in September. The Ethics Committee chose not to try to expel Mr Bowman.

Asked about Speaker Mike Johnson by The Messenger, he said, “The man’s a gentleman. He’s an exemplary member of this body”.

The 35-year-old appeared to have accepted that he would be expelled on Friday. “If this is it, this is it,” he said

All this comes after a 56-page report from the House Ethics Committee released earlier this month outlined “substantial evidence” that Mr Santos violated federal law.

Watch live: Republican Congressman George Santos speaks out as he faces expulsion vote

Thursday 30 November 2023 13:17 , Holly Patrick

Watch live as George Santos holds a press conference on Thursday, 30 November, ahead of an expected vote to expel him from the House.

The embattled New York Republican said that he will not be resigning led during a live broadcast on X Spaces.

The House Ethics Committee argued in a 56-page report that Mr Santos “knowingly” used his campaign committee to file false and incomplete reports to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), that he used campaign donations for personal expenses, that he violated the Ethics in Government Act, and that he committed fraud using a company he co-owned.

The report included allegations that Mr Santos used campaign money to pay for Botox, luxury purchases at Hermes and Ferragamo, as well as smaller sums spent on OnlyFans, food, parking, travel and rent.

Watch live: George Santos speaks out as he faces expulsion vote

‘If I leave, they win'

Thursday 30 November 2023 13:16 , Gustaf Kilander

LIVE: Congressman George Santos speaks to media ahead of expulsion vote

Thursday 30 November 2023 13:15 , Natalie Chinn

Santos says he will file motion to expel Jamaal Bowman

Thursday 30 November 2023 13:10 , Eric Garcia

George Santos says he will file a motion to expel Jamaal Bowman after he pleaded guilty for pulling the fire alarm during the House vote in September. This comes as the Ethics Committee chose not to expel Bowman. This comes as Santos faces expulsion.

‘Bless their hearts’: George Santos reacts to House’s third attempt to expel him

Thursday 30 November 2023 13:00 , Rhys Jones

New York Representative George Santos gave an assertive response to Congress’ threat of expulsion, stating that “he doesn’t care.”

A motion was put forward on Tuesday 28 November by Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia of California to expel Santos after a report from the House Ethics Committee accused him of campaign finance violations.

“Look, you all want a soundbite. This is the third time we’re going through this. I don’t care,” Santos told reporters.

Santos also insisted he isn’t whipping votes to keep himself in Congress.

From launching re-election bid to arrest and dropping out

Thursday 30 November 2023 12:00 , John Bowden

17 April: Reelection bid

Despite his escalating scandals, Mr Santos launched his reelection bid.

In his campaign announcement, he made no mention of the investigations or his ballooning falsehoods.

“We need a fighter who knows the district and can serve the people fearlessly,” he said.

9 May 2023: Criminal charges

Things took a major turn on 9 May, when Mr Santos was hit with 13 federal charges from the Justice Department.

The embattled congressman was charged with seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds, and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives.

10 May 2023: Arrest

The day after the indictment was filed, Mr Santos was arrested after surrendering to authorities at a federal court on Long Island.

The indictment was unsealed, revealing that federal prosecutors accuse Mr Santos of lying on financial disclosure forms he filed to the House when he became a candidate.

10 October 2023: Superseding Indictment

The Justice Department handed down a 23-count superseding indictment months later, adding the charges of conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States, wire fraud, aking materially false statements to the FEC, falsifying records submitted to obstruct the FEC, aggravated identity theft, and access device fraud.

The new charges revealed that Mr Santos allegedly stole his donors’ credit cards. In the case of one donor alone, Mr Santos is accused of trying to charge at least $44,800 to this contributor’s credit card without authorisation.

16 November 2023: Drops re-election bid

The House Ethics Committee released a report on the New York congressman, saying it had uncovered “substantial evidence” that Mr Santos broke federal laws.

The committee found that Mr Santos “knowingly” caused his campaign to file false FEC reports, used campaign funds for personal purposes, including OnlyFans, among other findings.

After the report’s release, Mr Santos announced he would not seek re-election in 2024. In a lengthy X post, he called the report a “disgusting politicized smear.”

From a resume of lies to an OnlyFans scandal: George Santos’s many, many controversies

Thursday 30 November 2023 11:00 , John Bowden

Facing a mountain of scandals and lies, George Santos announced on 16 November that he would not seek re-election.

His decision came in the wake of a damning report by the House Ethics Committee, which found that the embattled New York Republican engaged in “uncharged and unlawful conduct.”

Mr Santos has in fact been charged, too. In May, he was arrested and charged with 13 federal criminal counts, including wire fraud, money laundering, and theft of public funds. A superseding indictment was later handed down in October, increasing the federal charges against Mr Santos to 23.

In addition to the myriad of legal troubles, Mr Santos has also been accused of lying about his personal history. He has claimed that he played as a star volleyball player at Baruch College, worked at Goldman Sachs, has ancestors who fled the Holocaust, and that his mother died during 9/11; none of these claims have been substantiated.

Dogged by surely one of the oddest scandals to hit American politics in the last few years, Mr Santos has been facing calls for his expulsion and resignation even before he was seated as representative for New York’s 3rd Congressional District.

Let’s take a look back at how Mr Santos’ scandal-plagued political career evolved, from the beginning to now.

Bribes, treason and hay bales: The chaotic history of expulsions from Congress

Thursday 30 November 2023 10:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Scandal-plagued New York Rep George Santos looks set to join an exclusive group of people as he has acknowledged that he’s likely to be expelled from Congress.

“I know I’m going to get expelled when this expulsion resolution goes to the floor,” Mr Santos, 35, said last week in a broadcast on the X social media platform, formerly known as Twitter.

In the X Space event hosted by Monica Matthews, a rightwing personality, Mr Santos said, “I have done the math over and over and it doesn’t look really good”. But he claimed that he would wear his expulsion “like a badge of honour”.

The latest blow of many to Mr Santos’s short yet tumultuous political career came in the form of a 56-page report from the House Ethics Committee released earlier this month which outlined “substantial evidence” that Mr Santos violated federal law.

The report included allegations that Mr Santos used campaign money to pay for his personal expenses, such as Botox, and luxury purchases at Hermes and Ferragamo, as well as smaller sums spent on OnlyFans, food, parking, travel and rent.

The House can consider the motion to expel Mr Santos put forward by ethics panel chair GOP Rep Michael Guest as soon as Tuesday when lawmakers return from Thanksgiving break but when the vote may be taken up on the floor remains unclear.

Mr Santos would be the first member of the House to be removed in modern times without first having been convicted of a crime.

Only five representatives have ever been expelled from the House in the course of US history.

Former Ethics panel chair says she’ll vote to expel

Thursday 30 November 2023 09:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Rep Zoe Lofgren

Arizona senator asks Siri to find last House member

Thursday 30 November 2023 08:00 , Gustaf Kilander and Eric Garcia

Arizona Democratic Senator Mark Kelly, a former astronaut, was spotted at the Capitol on Tuesday asking Siri who the last member of the House to be expelled was.

“I’m just curious,” he told The Independent.

The last member to be expelled was Ohio Democrat Jim Traficant in 2002.

He served nine terms in the House between January 1985 and July 2002 when he was booted from the lower chamber following his conviction on racketeering, bribery, and fraud. He was only the second lawmaker to be expelled from the House since the Civil War.

His September 2014 obituary in The Washington Post referred to him as “one of the most deliberately outrageous members of Congress in history”.

“Glib and voluble, he was known for wearing cowboy boots, skinny ties and out-of-date polyester suits and for a bouffant mound of hair that seemed to defy gravity,” Matt Schudel wrote at the time.

The Los Angeles Times referred to it as a “Planet of the Apes sort of hair helmet,” while Washingtonian magazine wrote that it was “a creature from Lake Erie before it was cleaned up”.

Before joining Congress, he served as the sheriff of Mahoning Country. He was put on trial in 1983 after prosecutors acquired a tape that included him saying he had accepted more than $100,000 in bribes from organised crime. But despite his complete lack of legal training, Traficant represented himself and managed to argue that he had collected the bribes as part of a sting operation and he was acquitted.

He became known for his brief, rambling speeches on the House floor, often ending with a Star Trek reference: “Beam me up, Mr Speaker.”

In 1997, he said: “Let us tell it like it is. When you hold this economy to your nosey, this economy does not smell so rosy. If there is any consolation to the American workers, I never heard of anyone committing suicide by jumping out of a basement window.”

The following year, he said: “Russia gets $15bn in foreign aid from Uncle Sam. In exchange, Uncle Sam gets nuclear missiles pointed at our cities, two tape decks and three cases of vodka. Beam me up.”

In 2002, Mr Traficant faced a 10-count felony indictment for racketeering, bribery and fraud, with federal prosecutors alleging that he required a number of his aides to pay him kickbacks each month of as much as $2,500 just to work for him. Yet other staff were required to bale hay on his Ohio farm or repair his Washington DC houseboat. He also faced allegations that he filed false tax returns and pushed businesses in his district to provide goods and services at no charge.

He once again acted as his own attorney, but this time he was convicted on all counts.

On 24 July 2002, he was removed from the House after a vote of 420 to one.

After making a comment about what he called the “political prostitutes” in Congress, he said: “I want to apologize to all the hookers of America for associating them with the United States Congress.”

The incredible rise and dramatic fall of George Santos

Thursday 30 November 2023 07:00 , Bevan Hurley

Congressman George Santos’ tenure has been anything but dull — his rise to power and fall from grace have been equally mired in controversy.

After less than two years in Congress, his list of lies and scandals appears to have finally grown too long for him to defend anymore, as he announced he wouldn’t seek re-election in 2024 after the release of a damning House Ethics Committee report.

The committee said it found “substantial evidence” that Mr Santos had broken federal laws after finding “additional uncharged and unlawful conduct,” which included using campaign funds to make purchases at Hermes, Sephora and OnlyFans.

In 2022, Mr Santos was elected as the Republican Party’s first openly gay, non-incumbent member of Congress, and touted himself as a living embodiment of the American dream.

But he has since been exposed as a serial fabricator, and now an accused criminal.

Here’s what we know about the rise and demise of George Anthony Devolder Santos.

Credit card scams and unpaid rent

Thursday 30 November 2023 06:00 , John Bowden

In February, it was reported that New York City housing court records showed that Tiffany Lee Devolder Santos owed $39,050 in back rent to the landlord.

Mr Santos had reportedly failed to pay rent in the Queens apartment he shared with his sister before being elected to Congress in a state of disrepair.

The next month, a Brazilian man — Gustavo Ribeiro Trelha — who was deported from the US after being convicted of credit card skimming fraud reportedly told federal authorities that Mr Santos was the mastermind of the scheme.

Trelha claimed Mr Santos had taught him how to skim card information and clone cards in Seattle in 2017.

Trelha claimed Mr Santos visited him in jail in Seattle after his arrest and threatened him not to reveal his part in the scheme to authorities.

Responding to the allegations at the time, Mr Santos told reporters that he was “innocent”.

In January, Mr Santos also claimed to have been the victim of a mugging and assassination attempt in New York.

George Santos mocked by Jimmy Kimmel for saying expulsion will be ‘badge of honour’

Thursday 30 November 2023 05:00 , Amelia Neath

Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel roasted George Santos for saying he would wear his expulsion from Congress like a “badge of honour.”

Mr Kimmel has been recently mourning the fact that one of the favourite subjects on his show, Mr Santos, may no longer deliver any cringeworthy moments to monologue about after he potentially leaves Congress, so he’s getting them in while he can.

The 35-year-old Republican is due to face a vote of expulsion from Congress after damning evidence was revealed by a House Ethics Report on bizarre violations of federal law that he made.

Despite the public embarrassment that came with the revelations he used donor money to buy Botox treatments and an OnlyFans subscription and the possible end to his short political career, Mr Santos was steadfast in his proclamation that if he was removed from Congress, he would “wear it like a badge of honour.”

“… right next to his medal of freedom and his Purple Heart [medal],” Mr Kimmel quipped on his show on Monday.

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Santos’ lies revealed post-election

Thursday 30 November 2023 04:00 , John Bowden

A bombshell New York Times report on 19 December revealed to a broader audience for the first time many of Mr Santos’ fabrications and lies about his employment and education history.

A flood of further embellishments soon followed, including the 9/11 -related death of his mother, claims he had been a producer on the failed Broadway production of Spider-Man, how he had cheated associates out of clothes and cash, and had stolen $3,000 that had been raised to save a disabled veteran’s pet dog.

A pressure group formed by citizens in his 3rd Congressional District began holding protests outside his campaign office to try to force his expulsion from Congress.

As Mr Santos’ pile of scandals grew, he threw himself behind Kevin McCarthy’s campaign for Speaker of the House.

Mr McCarthy welcomed the support given his razor-thin majority, and refused to take action on any of the mounting ethical scandals, even as a growing number of New York Republicans called for him to be removed from Congress.

At the State of the Union in February, Mr Santos had an altercation with Mitt Romney after the Utah Senator told him he didn’t belong in Congress and “should be embarrassed.”

“Tell that to the 142,000 who voted for me”, Mr Santos reportedly replied.

Following the speech, Mr Romney called the New York Republican a “sick puppy.”

In March, the House Ethics Committee opened an investigation into whether Mr Santos had “engaged in unlawful activity”.

‘He’s most likely just a fabulist’

Thursday 30 November 2023 03:15 , Bevan Hurley

Soon after his 2020 election defeat, Mr Santos began raising money for the next congressional race.

New York Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, who is now the third-ranking Republican in the House, endorsed him in 2021.

Later that year, a vulnerability study commissioned with Mr Santos’ approval found alarming revelations, and many of his staffers resigned, according to the Times.

Among other things, it found he had falsely claimed to have been endorsed by Mr Trump, along with many of the lies about his job history and personal wealth that have since been revealed.

Congressional leaders learned of his deceptions by 2022. According to the Times, Dan Conston, the leader of the Kevin McCarthy-aligned Congressional Leadership Fund, tried to circulate the report’s findings to prominent donors.

Two pieces of luck helped paved the way for his election to Congress in 2022: Thomas Suozzi, the 3rd District’s incumbent lawmaker, announced he would not seek re-election and redistricting amounted in a new congressional district map gerrymandered to add a swathe of Republican areas.

Mr Santos again ran unopposed for the Republican nomination, and faced Democrat Robert Zimmerman in the general election, the first House race between two openly gay candidates.

Still, Mr Santos went on to take the district that November by eight points.

Early political career

Thursday 30 November 2023 02:30 , Bevan Hurley

Mr Santos’ murky and ever-changing biography makes it difficult to parse fact from fiction during his early forays into politics.

In 2018, he began volunteering for the campaign of Republican Vickie Paladino, who was running for state Senate. He reportedly boasted of his ties to Wall Street donors who could contribute but did little actual work.

The next year, he reportedly made his first attempt to get elected to Congress but failed to secure enough signatures to get on the Queens County Republican Committee.

That month he launched his campaign for the United States House of Representatives in New York’s 3rd Congressional District in 2020 against Democratic incumbent Thomas Suozzi.

No other candidates put their names forward. When pressed by reporters why he lived out of the district, he claimed to reside at an address that turned out to be his treasurer’s.

He lost the general election by about 46,000 votes, but still exceeded Republican expectations for the strongly Democratic district. He refused to concede the election.

Mr Santos spoke at the Stop the Steal rally at the Ellipse in Washington DC on the day of the Capitol riots on January 6, claiming his election had been stolen. A roommate would later claim that Mr Santos had worn his stolen $520 Burberry scarf to the rally.

In 2020, while running for Congress, he began working at Florida investment firm Harbor City Capital, which was later accused in a civil lawsuit by the Security and Exchange Commission of running a $17m Ponzi scheme.

He has publicly denied any involvement in the alleged fraud.

An alleged drag queen in Brazil

Thursday 30 November 2023 01:45 , Bevan Hurley

While living in Brazil, Mr Santos also reportedly performed as a drag queen named Kitara Ravache as a young man.

In January, Brazilian drag artist Eula Rochard posted photos to social media herself with a person wearing a red dress, bright red lipstick and dangling chandelier earrings who she identified as Mr Santos.

Journalist Joâo Fragah also said he had interviewed Mr Santos in costume.

A Politico investigation later found that a user on Wikipedia named Anthony Devolder claimed to have participated in drag shows in Brazil as a teenager.

Mr Santos issued a furious denial of the claims on social media, at a time when his Republican Party was vilifying and seeking to ban drag queens from performing in some states.

He called allegations that he “‘performed’ as a drag Queen is categorically false.” However, the next day, Mr Santos appeared to admit that he had participated in drag. “I was young and I had fun at a festival. Sue me for having a life,” he said.

He moved back to New York in 2011, working as a bilingual customer services representative at a call centre for Dish Network, a satellite TV firm, in Queens, where he would have earned about $15 an hour.

Mr Santos exhaled a stream of lies over a series of interviews: he alleged to have graduated from NYU business school, played as a star volleyball player at Baruch College, and attended the elite private school Horace Mann in New York, but failed to graduate due to financial difficulties, and worked at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. These claims have either been disproven or not substantiated.

In February, the non-profit Reclaim the Records obtained court records showing he married a Brazilian woman in 2012. His former wife, who has not been identified, filed for divorce in 2019.

He has since said he is married to a Brazilian man, whom he identified by the first name of Matt. He reportedly told Brazilian publication Piaui in November 2020 that his husband’s name is Matheus Gerard.

False FEC reports

Thursday 30 November 2023 01:00 , John Bowden

No campaign-related fraud is complete without lying to the Federal Election Commission, and Mr Santos is accused of doing that too. This remains an issue being played out publicly in New York court, where two of his former campaign staffers have now pleaded guilty to finance-related crimes in connection with his campaign. One pretended to be a staffer for Kevin McCarthy. Another, his treasurer, is accused of filing false reports to the FEC detailing the congressman’s fictitious loans and other questionable spending. She has testified in court filings that Mr Santos knew about her activities; he has denied this.

But the House investigation makes it clear that Mr Santos’s own campaign staff described their finances as a “black box” controlled and viewed only by Mr Santos and the treasurer, Nancy Marks. Despite his public statements to the contrary, the subcommittee report described him as “highly involved in his campaign’s financial operations”, and also faulted him for ignoring warnings from his own campaign staff about Ms Marks and financial irregularities within the campaign’s spending reports.

“Even if Representative Santoswas not aware of all of the other errors in his campaign reports relating to other receipts and disbursements, he had his own concerns and was repeatedly advised by multiple members of his team about concerns regarding Ms. Marks, but he failed to take meaningful action,” the report found.

VIDEO: Hageman on Santos

Thursday 30 November 2023 00:15 , Gustaf Kilander

Misuse of campaign funds

Wednesday 29 November 2023 23:30 , John Bowden

This is perhaps the widest variety of crimes Mr Santos is alleged to have committed — though not by much.

The congressman “was frequently in debt, had an abysmal credit score, and relied on an ever-growing wallet of high-interest credit cards to fund his luxury spending habits,” according to the investigative subcommittee. He used campaign funds to pay off those credit card debts in part, according to the Ethics Committee, while also making direct deposits from campaign accounts into his personal bank account.

He supposedly used these funds — transferred to his private accounts through various means — to make purchases at luxury brands including Hermes, on OnlyFans and for expensive meals.

Fraud, fraud and more fraud

Wednesday 29 November 2023 22:45 , John Bowden

At the very top of the list is a staggering stretch of dishonest financial behaviour. The congressman is, in short, accused of lying about loaning his own money to his 2022 congressional campaign, then “paying himself back” for those fake loans with real money.

Those fake loans topped $500,000 — no small amount. But that’s not the only fraud Mr Santos is accused of engaging in; he is accused of deceiving donors into giving money to RedStone LLC, ostensibly to support his campaign; in reality, that money was also used, according to the Ethics Committee, as a kind of slush fund for Mr Santos’s personal use.

He and his campaign are also accused of obtaining donors’ credit card numbers and stealing their identities.